Xavi Perez
Xavi Perez is a French GP2 OC driver currently under contract for the Arden International team in the 2016 season. 2013: Beginning in DTM and guest start in GP2 Xavi Perez made his debut in DTM in the 2013 season, driving an Audi for the ABT team. Xavi had an unimpressive season, mostly finishing the races outside of the top 10. At Brno, Xavi scored his first top 10 finish, with a 9th place, narrowly missing the points. Xavi would later score back to back points at the Old Hockenheim (4th) and Spa Francorchamps (5th). Despite mostly being in the back, Xavi only had one DNF, after a crash with Balint Szolga, at Silverstone. Xavi finished the 2013 season in a distant 18th place, with 9 points. Xavi missed two races due to guest starts. Robert Ionescu took his place at the Nürburgring, and Bruno de Barros took the seat for the Montréal race. While missing the Montréal race, Xavi switched places with Bruno, and made his GP2 debut at Spielberg, driving for Addax. Xavi, for a while, was in an impressive 7th place, but after a two-stop strategy, the Frenchman had to settle for 16th, later being promoted to 15th, due to Tobias Kress' time penalty. 2014: Not too many changes Xavi retained his seat at Audi ABT, and expected to have a better season. Xavi did score points in four races (including two 4th place finishes at Barcelona and Paul Ricard. At the latter, Xavi started from 20th on the grid), and finished in the top 10 at Montréal, narrowly missing the points. However, the rest of the season proved to be too uneventful for the Frenchman. Xavi failed to finish twice (puncture at Silverstone and was hit by Eoin Carpenter and Andy Higgs at Monza) during the season, and missed the Istanbul race, as Maria Ionescu (Robert's sister) made an one-off appearance. Xavi once again finished 18th in the final standings, but scored 13 points, 4 more than the previous season. 2015: So close, yet so far away from first ever win Staying with ABT for another season, Xavi Perez needed a better season. Eventually, it did become his best in DTM. Despite the weak start in the first four races, including a DNF at Brno, where he crashed after coming to the path of Joel Hutter, Xavi bounced back and scored a 6th place finish at Portimão. Afterwards, Xavi didn't do much for the following three races. The Montréal marked the start of an incredible run for the Frenchman. After a 4th place at the Canadian track, Xavi scored his first career podium, with a 2nd place at Austin, also scoring the fastest lap. After a DNF at Paul Ricard, when he was hit by Joel Hutter, and went airborne, Xavi surprised the paddock with a pole at the Old Hockenheim. Unfortunately the win didn't come, as he was overtaken by David Cupok, who won that race. Xavi equalled his career-best finish of 2nd. Despite an uneventful end of the season, it was clear that Xavi improved greatly, and he finished the season in 12th, with 24 points, a pole position and a fastest lap. 2016: Return to GP2 and first ever win For 2016, Xavi returned to GP2, three seasons after his only GP2 start, back in 2013. This time, Xavi joined Arden. Despite weak performances at Bahrain and Barcelona, Xavi scored a pole at Sochi, but was denied a win, losing to Nikolas Zorbach, and equalled, once again, his then best-career finish with a 2nd place. Xavi would later go on to win for the first time ever, at Istanbul, albeit under huge controversy. While Laura Chung was about to win a race that seemed easy for the Chinese, as she started from the pole, Xavi went to the final lap decided to deny Laura a win, and do it himself. During the final lap, Xavi tapped Laura from behind, sending both to a spin. Xavi rejoined first and scored his first ever win. GP4 DTM OC Results GP4 GP2 OC Results *Season in progress. Category:Drivers